Annual Review

The objective of the annual 1:1 meetings are twofold: they provide a performance assessment for the employees and lay out paths for improvements, but also assess the performance of Ideas on Board towards the employees. They offer a channel to share constructive criticism both ways.

In order to be constructive, psychological aspects of the employer-employee relationship are crucial to take into account. A respectful but frank conversation requires a good match between how the leader expresses issues, and how the employee receives the message. This requires a preparation of the meeting tailored to each employee/leader, taking into account their communication abilities.

The 1:1 meetings are held yearly or twice a year. The frequency will be reviewed once the process is in place and tested.

Goals

In a large organization, 1:1 meetings are meant to make sure all employees will have a chance to talk to their manager. In a small team the requirement may not be as strong, but Ideas on Board is exceedingly relying on remote work, which makes these discussions important.

The employee shall

  • have the opportunity to voice all his concerns and problems
  • provide a self-review, without turning it into a confession exercise

When walking away from the meeting, the employee shall

  • have improved morale and motivation
  • know exactly what is expected from them for the next work period
  • look at the future without fear
  • know that all their concerns have been heard

The leader shall

  • have clear meeting notes
  • send a summary of the meeting to the employee for approval
  • act on the feedback provided by the employee, recording tasks using the established process (this shall involve providing later feedback to the employee when those tasks have been handled)

Meeting Contents

The meeting covers three main topics, in the following order.

  • Feedback on the company, by the employee
  • Employee's assessment
  • Objectives and planning for the future (all positive)

All feedback, in both directions, may be positive and negative but shall always be constructive.

Feedback on the company

This topic is addressed first, as it is expected to be easier for the employee and thus provides a way in the discussion without the employee feeling defensive.

Employee's assessment

Moving to the employee's assessment, the discussion turns towards the performance of the employee during the past work period. It covers both positive and negative criticism, constructive as always. The employee is first offered a chance to provide a self-assessment, to avoid switching immediately to a defensive attitude. The leader discusses the self-assessment, and optionally provides additional assessment in a second step to cover all the items that need to be addressed.

Key objectives

Finally, the meeting turns towards the future by defining key objectives for the next work period. Those objectives are decided in jointly by the employee and the leader. They shall be measurable.

Meeting Preparation

The leader shall prepare the meeting by performing the following tasks.

  • List the employee's key objectives for the last work period
  • Evaluate whether those key objectives have been reached
  • Prepare an assessment of the employee's performance, making sure to include positive feedback
  • If possible, obtain review of the evaluation from a second leader to avoid a too subjective evaluation
  • Provide instructions to the employee to prepare for the meeting, and make sure the employee has received them and worked on them (for instance by requesting an acknowledgment of receipt if instructions are provided by e-mail)

Instructions for Employee

How precise should the instructions be ? How long in advance ?

Conducting the meeting

The 1:1 meeting is a very important occasion, and must be treated as such. No interruption shall be allowed, phone shall be set to silent mode. In a face-to- face setting, usage of computers should be minimized and avoided completely if possible. In a remote setting, usage of a computer is unavoidable but should not distract the participants. Instant message systems must be disconnect, and e-mails must not be checked. Notes should be taken on paper if possible, to avoid keyboard sounds.

Where applicable, and as widely as possible, the leader conducts the meeting by giving the employee the opportunity to talk first (as shown for instance by the self-assessment coming before the direct feedback from the leader).

Introduction

  • Give a strategy summary at the beginning of the meeting ?

Key objectives

As through the rest of the meeting, the employee is given the opportunity to make proposals first. The leader shall however not forget that employees usually have a more limited view on the company's short-term and long-term objectives compared to leaders, so they may have trouble proposing appropriate key objectives. The leader shall always be prepared to either frame or directly drive the discussion when needed.

Concluding the meeting

While the 1:1 meeting is a special event, it is never the only way to discuss issues between the employee and their leader. The leader shall make this clear when concluding the meeting, by telling the employee that the leader's door (and e-mail inbox) is always open, both the next day for topics that may have been forgotten, and in the more distant future.

Example questions

These questions are designed to facilitate open and safe conversation, and develop and identify potential objectives and development paths for the future.

Order the questions from most generic to most specific, to offer the employee the option to drive the discussion themselves.

  • Do you enjoy being a member of the team ?
  • Does your team provide support whenever it's required or asked for ?
  • Is there anything you need to raise, praise or concern, about working with other team members ?
    • We're not looking for you to stab your colleagues in the back, but for what problems we need to resolve

Assess how likely the employee is to continue working with us. Phrase questions with a large future time frame to provide perspectives into the future.

  • What part of your job do you find most meaningful and interesting ?

    • Goal: find out what the employee likes to do and align it with the business needs (- Do you experience personal growth and development from your day-to-day role ?)

  • In the next two (to three) years, what personal and professional development opportunities do you wish you would have ?

  • Do you feel you're achieving a good work/life balance ? How can we improve it ?

  • Compared to what you've expected at first, does your current job match the expectations ?

    • Is the job meeting your expectations ? If not, how can we improve it ?

  • Are you satisfied with your job overall ?

  • Is there anything I can do so that I can offer better coaching and support you ?

    • Any training, area you want to develop ?
    • Do you have all the resources you require ?
    • (Important to end on a positive and constructive note)